Smooth Barack - It's Serendipity, Y'all

Wassup, Y'all!

I'm sure many of you have already read Smooth Barack's first book, Dreams From My Father - A Story of Race and Inheritance so you'll already know where I'm headed with this. Ol Ty just finished the audio book version and I have to say, if you want a personal, inside glimpse of the man (which you should as you begin to assess the potential Presidential candidates) - actually of the process of how the boy became the man he is today - you need to read or listen to that joint. I recommend going the audio book route for a couple reasons: 1) he narrates the book himself so it sounds like you're sittin' down for a personal chat with homeboy (he does character voices that range from street homeboys to the Kenyan accents of his family members) and 2) it includes bonus material bonus - a copy of his star making speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention, the speech that introduced Smooth Barack to the world...

His book makes it clear that his convention speech wasn't just arbitrary platitudes spun
together into tight sound bites. He was speaking of his life and the experiences that have made him not only unique, but, in my opinion, uniquely qualified to be a great president - which is his goal. His heritage is multi-racial. His views are formed by life experiences gained by living not only in America but abroad as well. He's never lived in an isolated, homogeneous world - he's lived among people of all backgrounds and ethnicities. His formative years were never wrapped in the myopic cloak of power and privilege. It was no accident that he didn't support the Iraq war from the beginning - his studied view of the world as the complicated entity it is (religious factions, political factions, economic factions) told him all he needed to know about that decision and his predictions on its outcome have come to pass.

Should he run, as alluded to in his convention speech, he won't be a black president or a liberal president, he will truly be an American president with a vision that doesn't rely on empty, separatist rhetoric and appeasement to a political faction.

All these seemingly random confluences have me thinking that serendipity is playing a role in all this. One definition of serendipity is "finding something unexpected and useful while searching for something else entirely". From the beginning, Smooth Barack has wanted to be an organizer for change - just a small time operator working at the grassroots level. Somehow along the way, an opportunity came along that could power that ambition to unimagined heights.

Do yourself a favor - read his book. Learn about the man before assessing the candidate. Once you do that, you'll realize what presidential potential really is. I'm not hatin' on Hillary - I have no doubt she would be a capable president but, unfortunately, she remains a catylist of division - a convenient excuse for further separation between the country's political factions. By inauguration day 2009 we will have had 16 years of that ruckus. The time is now and, in my opinion, the candidate to pull us back together is Smooth Barack (who will hopefully be officially in the race on February 10th).

Peace@Least,

Tyrone

P.S. And hell naw I ain't givin' equal blog time to opposing candidates :-)

Tony Dungy - Finally gettin' his props

Wassup, Y'all!

Six days and a wake up until Superbowl XLI and despite living in Chicago, I have to admit that I won't be pulling for the Bears (the fact that I'm not a Bears fan is irrelevant, y'all). I'll be pulling for the Colts not because I'm a Colts fan but because I'm a HUGE Tony Dungy fan. In fact, any homey familiar with his story (waiting a ridiculous amount of time as a defensive coordinator before getting a shot at head coach) and his impact on the integration of the head coaching ranks in the NFL should be pullin' for ol boy too...

Following their respective conference wins, most stories are focusing on the fact that Superbowl XLI will be the first featuring not only one southside head coach but two - Tony Dungy and Chicago's Lovie Smith. What most stories aren't focusing on is how instrumental Tony Dungy was in populating the NFL head coaching ranks with other southside coaches. Much is still made today over the prolific Green Bay staff that Mike Holmgren put together back in the day - one that produced current and former NFL head coaches, Jon Gruden, Steve Mariucci, Dick Jauron and Andy Reid.

Once TD finally got his shot he also put together a powerhouse staff in Tampa Bay staff back in the day, one which produced southside head coaches Lovie Smith (heard of him?), Herm Edwards, newly minted Pittsburgh Steerlers coach Mike Tomlin and northside Detroit Lions coach Rod Marinelli (not to mention TB defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin and former Alabama head coach Mike Shula). Clearly TD is not only a talent in his own right but he's also an excellent evaluator of talent. Tomlin's story of getting hired by both Dungy in TB and now as Pittgsburgh head coach is particularly impressive. Even more impressive is that 25% of the 12 teams in this years playoffs featured coaches from that Tampa Bay staff.

Dungy's coaching success and the work of the Fritz Pollard Alliance (Frederick Douglas 'Fritz' Pollard was the NFL's first southside coach back in the '20s.) - an alliance whose co-founders include the late Johnnie Cochran - helped forge the way for the groundbreaking (and extremely effective) Rooney Rule, which stipulates that NFL team's have to interview at least one minority candidate before hiring any head coach. It's impact (and TD's) are undeniable - a record 7 southside head coaches were in place when the 2006 season kicked off - Art Shell and Dennis Green have been subsequently drop kicked by the Raiders and Cardinals respectively (the Rule will only get you in the door - only your team's on-field performance will keep you there and rightly so). In 2006 - no one did it better than TD and Lovie Smith (Smith's Bears boasted the best record in the NFL this year).

So when Superbowl XLI kicks off I won't be hatin' on Lovie and the Bears as I feel Lovie will get his in due time. Instead ol Ty will be cheering for TD to finally realize the fruits of his hard fought (and won) labor and get the appropriate propers he's due.

Go Colts!!

Peace@Least,

Tyrone

SAG Awards - No Surprises...

Wassup, Y'all!

Quick hit here before ol Ty hits the hay. As predicted, Beyonce did *not* win a SAG award for Best Actress (the fact that she wasn't nominated is irrelevant, y'all!). However, Eddie Murphy and Jennifer Hudson are 2-2 for their respective Dreamgirls roles. My boy Forest Whitaker is also 2-2 for his role in The Last King of Scotland. Congrats, homeys and home-ette - see y'all at the Oscars...

Peace@Least,

Tyrone

Friday Crackbacks - 01/25/07

Wassup, Y'all!

Man, the hits just don't stop for I-Dub (Isaiah Washington - seen here with the object of his affection actor T.R. Knight). Now word is that the brother is seeking 'psychological counseling' for his homophobic outburst. Homey's going all out to save his job. I expect everyone is Hollywood is walking on eggshells to avoid conversations like this: You: "Hi Joe!" Joe: "High? I'm not high! What the fu*k! You callin' me a druggie now you goddamn jungle bunny?" You: "Jungle Bunny!? Man, I will rip your drunk a$$ Irish Mick face the fu#k off if you don't take that back!" Psychological counseling...that joint is completely out of control, y'all...

With the Oscar nominations out of the way and Beyonce once again standing to the left of the nominees, we can get to the real issue - daaaamn the Academy got straight medieval on Dreamgirls' a$$ by leaving it sittin' on the curb with *no* Best Picture nomination! I haven't seen all the nominated films yet so I can't say whether it was the right call or not (I suspect not) but I'll reserve judgment until I make my duly appointed rounds. Big ups to Eddie Murphy, Jennifer Hudson, Forest Whitaker, Will Smith and my inside man Djimon Hounsou (who, like Big Willy, pulled off his second nomination). Go 'head, y'all. Jennifer! Don't forget to forget mentioning Beyonce again during your acceptance speech, homegirl! This will be her last face cracking event of the award season so make it count!

Finally, y'all know I rarely repeat myself, but daaaaaaamn, Lil Kim is looking ROUGH! The Queen Bee's lookin' like she did a little time in priso...oh, my bad. Despite all the cheery pronouncements about her one year bid, ol girl is looking like she aged about ten years while sleepin' with one eye open. But I digress...apparently homegirl is getting set to executive produce and judge a new reality show designed to select the next Pussycat Doll. Now most folks would be smiling about such an assignment (though this road's already been traveled by TLC's T-Boz and Chili's R U The Girl...). LK's lookin' like she's thinking about how she's gonna have to shank the big chick who keeps snatching her lunch tray! Dang - hope's she's not on Oprah when she has that flashback again. Ease up, homegirl - you're already out!

Peace@Least,

Tyrone

Are Southside Shortys Hatin' on Taye?

Wassup, Y'all!

With the latest work on his resume being two consecutive network TV flame outs (the TV dramas Kevin Hill and Daybreak) one has to wonder just what Taye Diggs (pictured here with wifey Idina Menzel) needs to do to helm a hit that has traction with viewers. As a fan of both flame outs, I know the issue really wasn't about the shows themselves. Kevin Hill boasted a *tight* female cast (featuring Malone Zone fave Michael Michelle)...okay the rest of the cast was pretty strong too and the scripts were working - they even found a way to squeeze Meagan Goode's behind up in there (that chick's like a bad penny - always turnin' up...). And y'all already know my feelings about Daybreak, so apparently there seems to be something more going on with Taye and his shows. Interestingly back in December, Robyn McGee over on Blackprof.com provocatively posed the question: 'Do Black Women Hate Taye Diggs'?...

This much I know - TD had southside shortys eatin' out the palm of his hand after he debuted in '98 with Angela Bassett in 'How Stella Got Her Groove Back'. Eatin' out the palm, y'all!! From '98 to the year he got married to northside shorty Idina, TD's films (three of which starred Sanaa Lathan and had me thinking those two were going to hook up) made an average profit of $20 million (I know Sanaa had to account for most of that tho...). That's fat stack cheddar, y'all. Even after ol boy got married in January of 2003, Malibu's Most Wanted, which dropped in April of that year grossed $19 million. Following that, TD did mostly TV roles until his ill fated turn in Rent, the movie version of the Broadway hit (in which he also starred and met his future wife). That joint followed the Kevin Hill flame out and lost $11 million.

So let's assess. Clearly TD has a core audience that goes beyond southside shortys as I'm sure there are plenty of northside shortys who also get all weaked kneed when ol boy rolls up. I find it hard to believe that a single demographic could derail a career over the fact that TD hopped the broom with a northsider. Similar hook ups don't seem to be killing the careers of Seal, Tiger Woods, Tiki Barber (eastsider), yada, yada, yada. Heck, even OJ's a$$ got some love on his way to pariahville, y'all!

So what is it about TD? Sure the homeys (from all sides) player hate but that's understandable anytime a crop of shortys stand around and chirp about a homey, but the southside shortys? Love finds you where it finds you - ask Barack Obama's momma (or Tina Turner). Any other way of thinking is waaay too complicated. TD and his girl have a lot in common - both New Yorkers, both performing artists (ol girl's a powerhouse and won a Best Actress Tony for her role as Elphaba in the Broadway version of Wicked and sang a duet with Ray Charles on his Genius and Friends CD), both the same age - born in '71. Seems a fairly good basis to kick it with all else being equal. Don't we have bigger things to worry about these days? Where we livin' that those two have to put up with death threats just for kickin' it? Folks need to chill that noise.

At any rate, I have to give it up to TD for doing his thing - consequences be damned. It's even more ironic knowing ol boy married his girl at the same Jamaican resort where 'Stella' was filmed. Wonder what Stella and her girl Delilah would have thought about that? I can hear Delilah now, 'Now ain't this about a bit#h! Stel, would you look at that sh#t!'. Like I said - folks just need to chill that noise. Erase the hate and increase the peace, y'all. Even for Taye's short, little a$$... :-)

Peace@Least,

Tyrone

Isaiah Washington - Dr. McBigot?

Wassup, Y'all!

My boy DLT thought it would be good for ol Ty to weigh in with his thoughts on this Isaiah Washington / Grey's Anatomy dust up and since I was already planning on posting my congrats to under appreciated show creator, Shonda Rhimes *and* since I was quick to jump in when Kramer (Michael Richards) put his foot in it at the Laugh Factory, I decided to take him up on that one. *Sigh*. No doubt Washington (aka I-Dub) turned this whole thing into a hot mess. Not only did he jack up Shonda's big night at the Golden Globes when the show won for Best TV Drama, he also ignorantly decided to spray gasoline on a smoldering issue that was well on its way to burning itself out...

Check that first link for all the actual factuals that you ever wanted to know about this ongoing controversy and Grey's Anatomy in general, y'all. I don't plan on rehashing that ruckus. At issue is I-Dub (who, coincidently, I never really liked - homey just strikes me as high maintenance and arrogant - both qualities that make him the perfect choice for his character, Preston Burke on Grey's...) had an onset dust up back in OCTOBER with Patrick Dempsey, arguable Grey's most popular star, dropped the gay slur F-word during the argument in reference to fellow cast member T.R. Knight and then resurrected the whole incident during the cast press conference at the Golden Globes after their big win by inexplicably refuting the known facts. Shonda needs to spank some a$$ on this one, y'all. Particularly since I-Dub was bold enough to jump in front of the mike when she was about to address a question so he could continue rolling his lie.

That he's a knucklehead, there is no doubt. He has no one but himself to blame for the firestorm burning brightly around him and, in my opinion, he did himself no favors by issuing an apology that seems genetically identical to ones issued earlier by Mel Gibson and Michael Richards for similar bigoted remarks. Damn - a knucklehead *and* unoriginal? Come on, I-Dub! At any rate, I expect him to make the rounds of shows like Ellen and The View to get the word out that he's hard at work reforming his thinking.

Here's what I think needs to happen provided Shonda isn't already hard at work writing his a$$ out of the show. Ol girl's got to still be steaming about all this. However, if she wants to address this ruckus head on, I suggest she work with the writers to pen a new story arc for I-Dub's character where Preston Burke is revealed to be a closet homophobe then, in an ironic twist, finds his career at Seattle Grace as a world class heart surgeon in the hands of a new, gay character and have him go through the process of examining and resolving his thinking in public for the viewing world to see...or just have him walking home late one night after his car breaks down and have him get jumped by the Village People and collect a world class beat down. Either one of those joints would be Must See TV. Seriously.

Peace@Least,

Tyrone

Forest Whitaker - See how they do?

Wassup, Y'all!

Hey - with all the Oscar buzz surrounding Forest Whitaker's knock out role as Idi Amin in the movie 'The Last King of Scotland' why is it that you can't find that bad boy in the first theater? It's been out in 'limited' release since September of last year but apparently gripping subject matter and Oscar worthy performances don't merit Borat sized openings (2,711 theaters vs. 113 for King). See how they do, y'all? That would be a state of affairs aptly referred to as WHACK!...

Ever since I peeped the trailer to this joint I've been waiting to get a ticket, my customary back row seat, some popcorn, Twizzlers and a cherry Icee to see my boy Forest transform himself into the former Ugandan dictator Idi Amin. Word is that Don Cheadle's Hotel Rwanda performance didn't have a thing on him (peep that trailer and tell me I'm lyin'...). Same for Leonardo DiCaprio's take on Howard Hughes in The Aviator - both Oscar nominated performance by the way.

Old school Merle Streep hit it on the head during her Golden Globe acceptance speech for her role in The Devil Wears Prada where she found it hard to swallow that her 'commercial' film landed in every multiplex known to man, while other smaller (King's budget was just $6 mil - I think LeBron's Nike commercials cost more than that!) but more 'artistic' films landed in obscure joints with names like 'The Music Box' or 'Piper's Alley'.

At any rate, I'm just happy that the Hollywood Foreign Press, SAG and academy members either see these films directly or get nomination DVDs so credit can go where credit is due. Appropriately, Forest (seen here on the Globe red carpet with his boo Keisha) took home the Golden Globe for Best Actor in A Motion Picture. The smart money is for him to repeat the feat at both the SAG Awards and Academy Awards.

If so, maybe those knuckleheads at Fox Searchlight Pictures will do everyone a favor and send that bad boy back out in a wider release. I suspect since they'll make more money in the deal that chance of that happening are good since the only color that really matters in Hollywood is green (how else to explain the new generation of blaxploitation flicks like Soul Plane, Phat Girlz, Waist Deep, blah, blah, blah??). (Note: in fact, USA Today is reporting this morning that King - as well as a whole crop of smaller, artistic films - will get a wider release. Starting this Friday it's expanding to 487 screens...gee, a whole 374 more screens. Gee...still 2,224 screens behind Borat...let's repeat - WHACK!).

Yo Forest - even though I ain't seen ya - I'm still feeling you, homey! Congrats and see you at the Oscars, man!

Peace@Least,

Tyrone

Monday Crackbacks - Jan 15, 2007

Wassup, Y'all!

Late post today since I wanted to check out the Golden Globes to see if my Dreamgirls prognostication on Beyonce losing out on Best Actress and Jennifer Hudson winning the Best Supporting Actress Globe was correct. We'll unlike my football predictions over the weekend, those joints played out just as planned. I'll give it up to Beyonce tho for looking gracious both in direct defeat and indirect defeat (ol girl teared up a little bit during Jennifer's speech tho I'm speculating it's because ol girl won...). I also peeped 'Stomp The Yard' earlier today and I have to admit - ol Ty was right on that joint too. Warning spoilers after the jump...

Remember when I said that 'Stomp The Yard' was mining the same material as the similarly themed 'Drumline'?? My bad - Stomp The Yard was actually Drumline with only the main subject switched (Historically Black College Fraternities step competition vs. Historically Black College marching band competition). The script was practically indistinguishable right down to the young freshman ringer chasing (and winning) the school hottie, the ringer (Nick Cannon in Drumline, Columbus Short in Stomp) getting sidelined just before the big competition, the ringer coming back to the competition just in the nick of time, the TIE between the two big rivals at the big competition facilitating a direct battle to break the tie, and the underdog school winning it all from the hated competition.

That joint was tired and predictable (tho the dance battles and stepping moves were off the hook) so I can only give it 2 Spinners (and even that's on the generous side). I wanted to like this joint more y'all but if you want to save a little cheddar at Blockbuster (or more if you get the barbershop, bootleg DVD) just get Drumline and imagine some dancing during the band battle sequences and you won't miss a thing.

Peace@Least,

Tyrone

Time to Daybreak a foot off in ABC's A$$

Wassup, Y'all!

I'm hot,y'all! Hot! As previously reported to my fellow basement dwellers, word on the street was that since ABC was short sighted and bold enough to cancel the excellent primetime drama Daybreak starring Taye Diggs, they would satisfy those fans that watched the show by putting the final episodes up on ABC.com so they could see how the show ends. Well, I dropped that post on December 19th - 23 days ago and I've yet to see any of the final episodes available for viewing! Why did it take me this long to get HOT!? Because I had a plan to save the last two aired episodes until after the first of the year, then have a little Tivo / Internet marathon to wrap up the show. So last night I watch my last two Tivo'ed episodes (each better than the last and pushing the mystery to the deeeep point) then couldn't wait to check out how it ended so I head to ABC.com and...

That's right - no damn final episodes available! Now TV Guide reported (by way of TVsquad) back on December 22nd that the posting of the final episodes would be delayed due to 'unforeseen music clearance issues'. Now to quote little Riley from the Boondocks, 'Man, that's some ol bullsh#t!'. I can't even remember much music even being on that joint but wha-teva. How long can that take to work out? In my humble opinion ABC is due TWO a$$ whuppins - 1) for yanking the show before finishing it's LIMITED run and 2) for yanking everybody's chain by not getting the final episodes up ASAP!

There are some other fans who are venting over on the TV Guide site in case you fellow fans want to comment and commiserate. In the meantime, all we can do is wait and wonder. I'm sure at some point they'll drop a DVD set for about a C-note. That was probably ABC's plan from jump as they implemented the classic pusher/addict model to perfection. My damn fault for getting hooked but in my defense, Daybreak is one of the most clever and compelling shows I've ever had the pleasure of watching *and* it contains some of Taye Diggs best acting (it actually killed me to write that just now since I'm not his biggest fan but that's how much I liked the show...).

All I know is that if ABC keeps faking the funk with these episodes, I'll have to put in a call to my senator (Smooth Barack) and have him put some heat they a$$ on my behalf cuz that's how I roll, y'all - proper channels first. But if that falls through and I eeeeeever see ABC walking down the street on the southside, y'all best cross to the other side because some Grand Theft Auto medieval madness and mayhem will be commencing post haste (as my boy Wesley likes to say).

Peace@Least,

Tyrone

Luda, Brenda's Baby & Rap's Demise?

Wassup, Y'all!

I was toe tappin' to Ludacris' / Mary J. Blige's new joint Runaway Love and noted how old boy is trying to channel OG Tupac Shakur who covered the same ground with his 1991 joint - Brenda's Got A Baby (check the Brenda video here, y'all). This time instead of 12 year old Brenda getting into all kinds of domestic drama, we have 9 year old Lisa, 10 year old Nicole, her girl Lil Stacey and 11 year old Erica. 16 years have passed since Tupac dropped Brenda and Luda reminds us today that little has changed in the hood. Seems to me that this is where rap music needs to earn its chops - educating the masses about overlooked problems - rather than extolling the virtues of grillz, rump shakers, deviant sex and rollin' on dubs...

Back in the day, rap was about social consciousness - Public Enemy with Fight The Power and Can't Truss It. Even more recently with Make Love, F##k War about the Iraq ruckus. Remember Grand Master Flash and Melle Mel's '83 classic 'White Lines' - a joint that warned about the dangers of cocaine?? (Note: Don't miss the classic video of *that* joint - directed by a little known director named Spike Lee and featuring a little known actor Laurence Fishburne) Or Tupac's 'Changes' or Eminem's 'Stan'? The list goes on.

On the flip side you've got a whack, insanely repetitious, one hit wonder like Unk's 'Walk It Out' capturing the minds of the biddy bop generation and leading them to think that the only things important are girls, money and dancing. Hmmmm, could the embracing of superficial fluff by most of the rap community be a reason behind Rap music's 2006 sales decline? According to Nielsen Soundscan, Rap and R&B music had the biggest sales declines in 2006 of all styles of music.

Ol Ty, being the purist he is, attributes the Rap music decline to the lack of substance in the content. My boyz would probably chalk it up to the fact that southsiders tend to have a fond appreciation for the art of bootlegging and since a large chunk of the audience for R&B and Rap music tend to be southsiders, well...

I'm thinking the best way to stop this decline is to 1) bring back meaningful rap lyrics, 2) keep featuring R&B artists on your tracks, 3) keep laying down phat beats, and 4) commit to paying at least $0.99 for a track, y'all - damn! Stop being so tight! Walk it on out to iTunes and do the right thing!

Peace@Least,

Tyrone

Samuel L. is Afro Samurai...

Wassup, Y'all!

Happy New Year! I hope to get back to a regular posting schedule now that my holidayin' is finished as I know y'all are ready to once again savor the flavor. What better way to get back into the groove than with news of my boy Samuel L. 'Never seen a project I didn't sign on to' Jackson? That's right, y'all. Sammy is back with a little 'behind the scenes' work as the voice talent behind the new Spike TV animated feature Afro Samurai. Note the 'Spike TV' in that last sentence as this joint is hyper violent and definitely not kid appropriate. That said, if you're a fan of those whacked out Kung Fu movies and Japanese anime influenced cartoon style, this joint should definitely keep you entertained...

I'm not sure what it is with Samuel L. and sword fighting, but on the heels of his light saber wielding role as Mace Windu in the last three Star Wars joints and his perpetual quest to bring a live version of Afro Samurai to the big screen, he's clearly living some childhood fantasies. Jackson actually voices two characters in the cartoon version of Afro Samurai - the title character , a man of few words who lets his Katana blade do the talkin', and a jibber-jabbering sidekick named Ninja Ninja who gets all the good lines.

I checked out the premiere episode and liked it so far but I have to admit, there's more than enough decapitations and dismemberments to go around. The animation style also reminds me of the Boondocks (another Spike TV staple, which also features Jackson as the voice of whacked out Iraq war vet Gin Rummy).

During the premiere I also caught the trailers to two upcoming movies that look pretty good. One is Eddie Murphy's comedy Norbit which stars Donkey in multiple roles, primarily a Steve Urkel type nerd who ends up attached to a Big Babe (think Martin Lawrence in Big Mama's House and then go up one size larger). Looks too funny - check the trailer out on the above link. Casts looks good too - Thandie Newton, Cuba Gooding, Jr. and Man Law alum Eddie Griffin (okay, 2 out of 3 ain't bad!).

Mark Wahlberg also has a new joint coming out that reminds a bit of the Bourne Supremacy series. It's called Shooter and stars Wahlberg as a former military sniper framed for a presidential assassination. Can't say there have been many movies starring Marky Mark that I haven't liked so I'm expecting to be wolfin' some popcorn at both these joints.

Peace@Least,

Tyrone

SAG Tells Beyonce - "To The Left"

Wassup, Y'all!

Oh Snap! Apparently the Screen Actors Guild nominating committee really must not have known 'bout Beyonce since she was last seen standing to the left of the five Best Actress nominees. That's right, y'all - no best actress nod for Beyonce's Dreamgirls performance, but a big best supporting actress nod for Dreamgirls co-star Jennifer Hudson! Now I'm not one to fan the flames but daaaaang, ol B's gotta be in a funk today since the SAG nominations tend to presage the Academy Award nominations...

Based on this you know Jennifer's a lock for a Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress while Beyonce has to be considered a dark horse for one of the five best actress slots considering the glut of talent in that category this year. And since Dreamgirls got nominated for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture, you know that B has to be in the house to soak up all the fawning that will be going on over Jennifer on presentation night (Sunday, Jan. 28 at the Los Angeles Shrine Exposition Center, simulcast live nationally on TNT and TBS at 8 p.m. ET/PT, 7 p.m. CT, and 6 p.m. MT.). You might want to queue this joint up on TiVo so you can hit a couple freeze frames of Beyonce's cracked mug.

Yes, yes, y'all - it all going according to plan... Yo J-Hud - two snaps up, homegirl - congrats!!

Peace@Least,

Tyrone